Sunshine!

Can’t believe its still sunny, this is a miracle everyone!

This week has been so great and so fast! I gave a talk in sacrament on choices and how we are all faced with difficult choices and we don't always know which path to take, but if we are doing what’s right our loving Heavenly Father will never lead us astray.  I shared from conference when President Monsen said to take the harder right instead of the easier wrong.  We need to follow that counsel because the right decision might not always be easy but when we put our trust in the Lord we can know everything will be okay. He will always provide a way for us to accomplish the things He asks. ‘I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unot the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.’(1Nephi 3:7)  I am so thankful I am not alone on this journey!!!

We were teaching one of our Chinese investigators who we hadn't seen for a couple weeks and we taught him about the10 commandments and the Sabbath day. As we were talking, he asked, “what do I need to do to be baptized?” Me and sister pro just looked at each other and of course told him, but we were freaking out inside!  We didn’t think he wanted to be or anything, it was so cool!  So we are preparing him to be baptized and hopefully he will continue to progress!

We fasted again for A’s visa and we get a call from him later during the day and he told us his friend got his visa which is hilarious. We just had to laugh and wonder why things happen the way they do. But God has a plan for each of us!!! Just put your trust in him! Hopefully it will come soon!

Only 3 weeks left in the transfer which is crazy!  Missions are awesome but hard and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. There are times when I still have doubts, but those are just from Satan.  He always tries to get us to think we aren’t good enough and that there is no point in choosing the right. But when we choose the right we can always be happy :) Thank you for the advice about not letting Satan get to me. I need to remember those are not thoughts from God.

That is what I am working on this week, to be happy all the time. I’ll letcha know how it goes ;)

Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and it is a choice!  We just need to choose to be happy, so this week I am choosing to be happy and enjoy even the hard days. 

Teaching is going good, there are still lots of things to improve on but this week I realized I am going to be happy and focus on serving the Lord. thank you for reminding me that we don’t just teach the lessons but we are here to be a light to people too.

xoxoxox

hope all of you have a great week! love and miss you all!

love, sister stevens 
lisel.stevens@myldsmail.net

cutest little ice cream shop
(don't worry, we actually do missionary work too) haha

A on his doorstep

pretty tree

after skyping with the fam I needed some DC majorly!

Another week has flown by!

Monday was a holiday in England; May Day.  So we got to hear from Lisel today!

This week has been crazy!  We've had snow, rain, hail, and sun! England weather is a bit crazy most of the time.

Well, I had a pretty high fever and was quite sick for a couple days this week but I was able to rest and I am feeling much better now :) 

We have this activity thing for recent converts and investigators that everyone loves. It’s called cottage evening and me and sister pro were in charge of it this week! All our progressing investigators came and it was one of the best nights of my mission so far. We played some games, ate some yummy food, and shared a spiritual thought. I just remember looking around and feeling so much love for these people. It was such a tender mercy seeing them all together laughing and talking and getting to know each other better. It was a great night! I felt so happy and blessed that I got to experience that feeling! 

A from Egypt is still progressing so well!  He has definitely noticed a difference in his life since we met him and in every prayer he says he always asks heavenly father to protect us. It’s so cute!  Anyway, so his baptism was supposed to be this next weekend and me and sister pro planned it and were so excited!  We really felt like he was ready. But A doesn’t have his visa yet, which is crazy because he has been here for 7 years and he legally is allowed to be here. But we called president and made sure it would be okay if he was baptized but he said he needs his visa before he can be baptized... so please keep him in your prayers! He is ready, just waiting. We are putting our trust in the Lord, He knows what A needs and when the time is right. 

This week I studied a lot about the sacrament and the importance of it. And also how we can get the most out of taking the sacrament each Sunday. It is the most important part of the week and the greatest part of the week! I have been setting a goal each sacrament meeting and really working and focusing on it during the week and then I evaluate and if still need to work on it I will keep the same goal or set a new one. I have really noticed a difference and felt the spirit so strong during sacrament meeting. It is also so important that we remember why we take the sacrament. We are becoming clean again! We get the chance to recommit ourselves to our Savior and Heavenly Father, and get a fresh start! It is seriously such a blessing!

I am so thankful the Lord has trusted me with this assignment to serve Him and His children. I am learning so much about myself, about the scriptures, and my Savior. If you are thinking of serving a mission, make the choice to do it! There will be hard moments and moments of doubt but it is so worth all the pain you go through. Just put your TRUST in HIM and everything will work out. 

I love you all!

xoxo, sister stevens

french braid selfie

We heart attacked Peter's door

cake and hot choc with investigators

Sister Chiu made sushi!

We went to a Chinese Market to get stuff to make Mango Sticky Rice!

And I got a 100 plus! (fave drink in Singapore)

A week of sunshine

I can’t believe it’s already Monday again, time flies when you’re a missionary. I cant express my gratitude for all the emails and prayers sent. I wish I had the time to respond to everyone but just know that all your words have meant the world to me! I have felt Heavenly Fathers love so much this week. Of course there are still challenges but we need sorrow to feel joy! We had 3 full days of complete blue sky and sunshine and it was a miracle for England!  It was such a blessing from heaven. I even got sunburnt on my cheeks a little! crazy haha. 

Last Monday for pday a member took me and Sister Pro to Skipton castle! We got to drive through the English country side and see fields of the greenest grass and so many little lambs! I felt like I was in a movie!  The castle was very old but so cool! I’ll send pics.  The member is around 70 something and he loves the sisters so much! He always buys us chocolate and other food. He is so sweet, and he gives rides to our investigators and us all the time. I don’t know how we would be missionaries without him. 

A is still progressing, we had to move his date back because its tough for him to understand things because English isn’t his first language (we are literally teaching no English people) but he has been keeping his commitments and he can tell a change in his life since he has been meeting with us. It’s so cool to actually witness someone changing because they know what they need to do to become happier. It is such a miracle!  We had a member come with us when we taught him and when she was saying the closing prayer A just started crying and at first we were all scared but he said that the prayer made him cry and we explained that was the Holy Ghost. It was such an amazing moment! He knows this is true and I am so happy for him! 

haha funny story, we had a tea appointment at the Bishops house (they are the best and they are hilarious) and they had this hole in the floor because they were fixing something and it was like 3 feet deep at least. When we were getting ready to leave we were shaking Bishops hand and one of his legs fell in the hole hahaahah but he got up really fast like nothing happened and then he looks down at his pants and he has a huge rip in them. Oh my gosh we were laughing so hard, you should have seen his wife she couldn’t even breath haha it felt so good to laugh so hard. 

One thing I have been studying in preach my gospel this week is the power of a testimony. When you’re a missionary you don’t always know what to say (people think you do, but you really don’t) but when I don’t have anything to say I testify of Christ because that is how you can help people feel the spirit. It is so important to testify because it invites the spirit and you can state with confidence that you know what you have said is true. Testifying is key! I am so grateful for the inspiring words of our Prophets and Apostles and the Book of Mormon especially. I have been studying more prayerfully this week and it has helped me realize how much good is in it! It has so many lessons and so much advice! I admire Joseph Smith so much. Everything he did was for the Lord, not for himself. It is so important that we are following Gods plan for us because he knows us so well! I am so thankful to be apart of the only true church and as a member of it we are commanded to share it with others. So this week, I challenge all of you to reach out to someone who could use the gospel more in their life. You don’t necessarily have to teach them about the restoration or even share a Book of Mormon, just show them that you truly care about them and you want to help them. Get out of yourself and follow Christs example. Ask yourself, what would Christ do?  I am thankful that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with this opportunity to learn so much and to become the person he wants me to be. I love this gospel and I love my Heavenly Father, and I love all of you!

Thank you again for all the love and support!

xoxo, Sister Stevens

There is help and happiness ahead!

Hello my peeps,

First of all let me just say missions are a roller coaster of ups and downs and one minute you feel like you are on cloud 9 and the next you feel like you want to crawl in a hole and die haha, but seriously. We have a new missionary from Taiwan living with us so I’m not the newest missionary anymore, which is a good feeling :) there are so many things to learn its so overwhelming sometimes! This week was the toughest yet, I had quite a lot of doubts. Satan almost got to me and I was close to giving up but one of the sisters reached out to me and because of her I was able to get back up and focus on why I am here. The lord would not give us something we can't handle, he knows us individually and perfectly. And we are not alone! Our Savior can be with us every step of the way. I was also able to get some great words of advice from my mission president who said no matter where we are there will be trials and ups and downs and right now I’m in England, so they’re gonna be in England.  I chose to be here and I’m choosing to stay. I also received a blessing from my district leader who said the most inspiring things. He said God is aware of what I am going through, He knows when I need help and He knows how to help me. I just need to trust in Him and keep reaching out to Him. Trust that He is there. Because i can testify He is! He wants to help, He wants us to succeed. We just need to try, that is all He asks, just keep trying there is help and happiness ahead. Missions are tough but they prepare us for what we will have to face in life. I wrote a list of things I want to do in life and because I am serving a mission I will be able to complete most of the things.  Missions are full of experiences and I wouldn’t trade this time for anything.

Me and sister pro taught quite a few lessons this week, we have some amazing people we are teaching and we were able to schedule 2 new people who we randomly met through our other investigators. The Lord works in mysterious ways! 

I am learning so much and growing so much its crazy what we are capable of with the Lord! 

I love you all so much and I know that because of Him we can do all things that we are asked. Just keep swimming like Dori says. 

xoxo sister Stevens 

excerpt from her email to me: she had a tough week :(

I’m not gonna lie, this week was extremely tough. I’ve never wanted you so bad! I cried for hours I literally couldn’t stop and i was seriously considering coming home.  I was planning on what I was going to tell president and what I was going to tell you. I just felt like I couldn’t do this and I didn’t want to do this.  I know you would love me no matter what. I felt like I couldn’t help people and I just wanted to be home. But sister Blair showed me this video of Elder Holland when his car broke down and he prayed and the quote stuck in my head, “you keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead.”  We go through trials because God wants to make us better, He wants to push us because He knows what we can do. And Satan is trying so hard to make us give up and I almost did!  I look back and am so frustrated!  Why do we let Satan get to us?  He is nothing compared to the Lord.  You keep trying mom you keep doing what you are doing. There is help and happiness ahead and the eternal rewards are worth everything we go through in this life! Heavenly Father knew I can do this, and with the Savior I know I can.  Even though it is the toughest thing I’ve ever had to experience. I’m so thankful for prayer. We just need to take things one step at a time. Sister pro called president because I wanted to meet with him and he said we will meet in a couple days and I was angry at first but I got over it. I’m trying to be temperate ;) so I called him the 2 days later and I told him I worked things out and he said there are going to be trials and challenges anywhere I go in the world. He said I’m going to have a harder time adjusting going back home than I did coming here, which made me scared haha.  I am grateful for that inspired man and for my savior.
here's a link to the video she is talking about:
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-05-12-good-things-to-come?lang=eng

Ups and Downs

This week has been full of ups and downs, one minute I feel like I’m doing a great job and I have the Spirit with me and the next I feel like I don’t have the spirit with me and I am not even doing what I am supposed to be doing. But my comp has really been helping me and the other sisters in my flat realize those are thoughts from Satan. Satan is so real and he is trying so hard to get us to give up. Listen to the prophet and take the harder right instead of the easier wrong. I love that man so much. 

We were able to go to a baptism of one of the Sisters investigators with one of our investigators. It was such an great thing seeing her make this amazing change. The talks were simple and perfect for our investigator Cl to hear. 

Hah me and sister pro had an interesting adventure this week.. so we were going to visit some less actives who lived kinda far away, so we took the bus and then got off and on her ipad she had the directions and it said there was a short cut so we took it and all of a sudden we were in the middle of these woods! hah with like a river and everything, so random. It was raining pretty hard and it was so muddy. I, thank goodness was wearing my Hunter rain boots and had no problem, but sister pro wasn’t wearing the best shoes, so she got on my back and I carried her across the muddy parts. And then we realized we needed to cross the river and man that was a strug, seriously it was hilarious. I walked across with our bags and then went back and carried her over but we almost both fell in haha my boots got stuck in the mud but luckily we got out and were able to get over. We were laughing so hard and it was so random. I lost one of my name tags too but it was worth the adventure. 

This weekend was fast Sunday and we taught A about fasting. He is waiting for his visa so he can open up his hair salon!!!! He is a barber so we talk hair a lot I love it :):) he said he wants me to work for him one day ;) anyway, so we all fasted for his visa and then he said he wanted to cook for us when we finished our fast. He made us sooo much food, it was so nice of him! He seems to really be progressing and it is so cool to watch him change and actually notice a difference when he does the things the Lord asks. 

Good news everyone, I finally had a dream about being on a mission! That is a good thing because I feel like I am finally getting stuck in and being able to really focus on the work here. haha my comp was really proud. 

Church was amazing the week, our ward is mostly ysa's and some of them bore the most spiritual, simple testimonies about the atonement. And we had some investigators at church, it was amazing for them to hear. I feel so lucky to be able to meet such amazing people all over the world. I am learning so much! 

I am grateful for all the love, prayers, and support I receive.

For transfers tomorrow, I am staying in Leeds with my comp because I am still being trained. I am glad to stay in the same area. Sister Pro pushes me and I am learning a lot. She’s Russian and sometimes I feel so embarrassed because I am so emotional, but she understands.  She is very nice and helpful.

Cayden is going to Huddersfield zone like 20 mins away from me which is more comforting. I am missing you so much, I would do anything for a hug from you. When the kids are getting out of school is when our next transfer is! 7 more weeks!

I am a wreck of emotions haha but I am learning so much and grateful to be serving the Lord. Sometimes I feel so inadequate and wonder why and how I can do this. I feel stressed because these people's salvation is in my hands! But then I remember, the Lord would not call me to do this if I couldn’t. Our Heavenly Father and Savior know us so well, they will never ask us to do something we can’t. And we all need to remember that we are not doing this alone! Our savior is with us every step of the way. Don’t ever forget that!

I love you all and am so happy to be doing the Lords work, no matter how hard it is. We all can do hard things through Him.

Hope you all have a great week!

Much love from England, sister stevens 

Conference Weekend

heya fam and friends :)

hope you all had a great week and were uplifted by the words of our prophet and general authorities. it broke my heart to see president monson, he is so weak and fragile he is so amazing and devoted to this work, he is an amazing example. i am so thankful to have a testimony of our prophet and know he is truly called of god. listening to conference is 10x better on a mission, you just soak up everything and i learned a lot. its important that we dont just learn but we make changes and apply what we learned into our lives. that is something i am working on this week. we got to take the train to conference and it was so fun! the trains here are the best, i cant wait to take you on them!! (seriously, there are so many things i want to do and places i want to see!) and we made taco soup and brought it with us to eat in between sessions haha its great being a sister. we got to see all the other missionaries in our zone and talked to them a bit. there are so many amazing people serving here. some of the elders got to serve with cayden and they just love him so much. they have such great things to say about him. i cant wait to (hopefully soon) see him in action as a missionary.  we got to watch conference at the chapel and it made me pretty homesick thinking about watching in on the couch with my fam but i am so grateful to have been able to hear the words of the general authorities. thank you for the quotes. we didnt get to see sunday afternoon which was so sad! but we can listen to it when it comes out on lds.org. i cant wait to hear elder holland. elder uchtdorfs talk really helped me know that the lord is refining me to who he needs me to become. and i have felt an embrace from heaven today reading all your emails, knowing i am so lucky to have all of you and know that you guys are all safe and well makes me feel so blessed. 

it was a good week, cant believe this is the last week of the transfer, time literally flies so im doing my best to enjoy every minute. im halfway done with training and i still cannot navigate the busses and trains or anything so please pray for me ;)
we got to teach Alex this week and commit him to baptism for april 23! we also committed him to keep the word of wisdom and he even gave us his last bottle of whiskey! dont worry we had a nice little ceremony of dumping it out after a few shots of course. (ill send pics) 

april fools day wasnt quite the same as my usual pranks, instead we heart attacked a couple of the members houses who do so much for us. it was fun though they were really happy :) 

missionary life is hard, it is so hard to be away from family and friends, it is hard to keep your thoughts centered on jesus christ, it is hard to care about all these people you just met, and it is hard to be a missionary. BUT it is so rewarding. i see miracles everyday, i get to teach people about simple things that can change their lives, and i get to become friends with people from everywhere, but the most important thing is i get to become closer to my savior and become the person he wants me to become. it is so comforting knowing i am exactly where i am supposed to be and doing what i am supposed to be doing. i am so grateful to be a missionary at this time and experience hard times because they make you appreciate the good so much more. i am so thankful that if we endure to the end, we can live with our father in heaven again. i cannot wait to be reunited with him and expereience that joyful reunion.

hope you all have a great week! 

love you all so much!

love, sister stevens

Leeds

Train Station

No Cheetos in England, so we sent her some on Amazon UK

Lisel and Sister Pro

Time flies when you are busy

I got this sweet email from Sister Blair, from Provo, who is one of Lisel's flatmates:

subject:  I love Sister Stevens!

Dear beautiful mother and family of Sister Stevens,

I just wanted to quickly share with you how incredible Sister Stevens is. 

She is such a light here in England, she is so dedicated and patient and strong. 

She is a peacemaker, she cooks such good food, she can always make us laugh,

 and she has especially been such a comfort and strength to me here in Leeds. 

It's really special to have someone else from home :) 

I feel like I know and love you all because of her stories and prayers. 

Thank you for your sacrifice in letting her come out here--she is already changing lives, starting with mine. 

I can't wait to meet you all some day, and I'm sure it will be sooner than any of us can believe :)

Lisel and Sister Blair

Love,

Sister Blair (from Provo)

D&C 123:17

 hi mom :) thank you for the emails it is so good to hear that everyone is busy and doing well. time flies when your busy I’ve noticed which has been pretty nice. yesterday was a bank holiday so pday got switched. we did some grocery  shopping this morning and we are trying to eat lots healthier so we got loads of veggies and fruits at this cute market. we are also starting to make meals which has been so good! I made french onion soup and pesto pizzas and me and sister blair made taco soup on easter. when i saw the taco soup and tasted it I started bawling. I remember when you made it all the time and it just made me miss you so much! but i am proud of myself because I’M COOKING!! it makes me excited to be a mom. hah being on a mission makes me want like 6 kids! we had an amazing sister meeting on wednesday with the sisters in 2 zones with president and sister pilkington and it was so inspiring. it made me want to work so much harder and put in so much effort because it really is such a short time. I have to admit, this week was rough. at times I felt like I didnt have the spirit with me, I felt like my heart wasnt in the right place, and I was just having so many doubts. but i had an exhange with sister blair from provo yesterday and it seriously was such a blessing. she was so comforting she just sat and listened to me cry and talk and she was just amazing. I realized I knew that heavenly father was there but I didn’t have faith that He could really help me which was so dumb and frustrating! when I realized that I got straight on my knees and asked for forgiveness and I told Him that I really did trust Him and knew He was with me every step of the way. when I did that I instantly felt better and all during the day i had a smile on my face and knew that i heavenly father is with me. Everyone kept telling us that we looked to happy and that they could tell we were followers of Jesus which made me feel so good because i really do have the spirit with me. It was just such a fun day, we got stuck in the rain and just laughed and everyone thought we were nuts because we're trying to stop them on the street but we just laughed haha. and we were told to try an english kebab it was strange but good, so we walked in and were asking people what to get and everything and the whole restaurant was just talking to us (you learn as a missionary to just talk to everyone) and the worker told us what to get his name is Aussie I have a pic, and we ordered and he said this ones on me, you guys are spreading the great word! so he gave us sooo much food and drinks for free it was so nice! missions defs have their perks. people are just so nice here. 

easter was a great day at church, sister pro spoke about the testimony of jesus christ. SO GOOD. read it! we decorated these nasty cookies ha but it made me feel pretty homesick. but i am doing so much better, i am learning how to better focus on the work here. i love you all TOOOO much! why do I have such an amazing family?! its the best and the worst at the same time. but last week i was reading and studying about the atonement for easter and we can all be amazing people with great intentions but really the only way we can return to our father in heaven is through the atonement. it is the most important thing.

One night we didn’t take our whole time for tea and by the end of the night me and sis pro were both starving so we asked people where the nearest mcDs was (we have been craving it…so nast) and we ran there and back to make it to our flat by 9 and it was hilarious and oh my it tasted too amazing hah. 

We were sitting on these steps waiting for our investigator and this random guy comes up to me and gives me this flower and begs me for my number and I told him that I’m only here to talk to people about God and he was like I only want to talk about you haha I just laughed and told him I cant and then he was like please just break the rules once! and he was surprised I didn’t want to. and then we were talking to this other guy on the street and we were having a great convo and then he tells us he has to go so he gives me a huge kiss on the cheek and just walks away hahaha me and sister blair just looked at each other and laughed it was so funny. english peeps are crazy. 

this week has been hard and challenging but has been so rewarding, I have learned to much. I am amazed at how much I am already changing, it is so good!

keep up the great work! and pray always. 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH ITS CRAZY. and miss you more than you can imagine. 

love, sister stevens

Aussie the kabob man who gave them all their food for free

Lisel's homemade French Onion Soup

Lisel and Sister Pro

Lisel and Sister Blair

1st McDonalds

Rainy England